Stephen Mullens, who was a close confidant of the sport’s boss Bernie
Ecclestone and the lawyer for his $4bn Bambino family trust, has been
charged by German prosecutors

German prosecutors have widened their investigation into corruption in Formula One by charging Stephen Mullens, who was a close confidant of the sport’s boss Bernie Ecclestone and the lawyer for his $4bn Bambino family trust.

Mr Mullens has been charged in connection with an alleged $44m (£26m) bribe paid by Bambino and Mr Ecclestone to steer the sale of a 47.2pc stake in F1 to the private equity firm CVC in 2006.

Mr Mullens is the fourth person to be charged by German authorities in connection with the payment.

The first was Gerhard Gribkowsky, the banker responsible for selling the F1 stake which was owned by German lender BayernLB (BLB). He was convicted for receiving the alleged bribe in 2012 and, since then, his former lawyer Gerald Toifl has also been charged along with Mr Ecclestone, who will face trial in Munich in April.

Margarete Noetzel, spokesman for the Munich court, confirmed that Mr Mullens had been charged and that the “trial chamber has not yet decided on an opening date”.

Last month Mr Mullens and Mr Ecclestone won a related civil case in London’s High Court which had been brought by the German media rights firm, Constantin Medien.

It claimed that CVC was Mr Ecclestone’s preferred buyer as it had agreed to retain him as the boss of F1. CVC paid $814m for the F1 stake but Constantin argued that other bidders would have offered more. It demanded $140m in damages as it had an agreement entitling it to 10pc of the proceeds if the stake sold for more than $1.1bn.

The judge, Mr Justice Newey, ruled that “the payments were a bribe” but added that “it was no part of Mr Ecclestone’s purpose (or Mr Mullens’) for BLB’s shares to be sold at an undervalue”.

Mr Mullens and Mr Ecclestone deny that the $44m was a bribe. They say Gribkowsky threatened to tell HM Revenue & Customs that Mr Ecclestone controlled the Bambino trust if the money was not paid.

Bambino is based offshore whereas Mr Ecclestone is a UK resident so he would be liable to pay tax on the $4bn in the trust if he was found to be in control of it – a claim he strongly denies.

Mr Mullens declined to comment. Mr Ecclestone said he is “annoyed the judge said I bribed Gribkowsky”. He said his contract with BLB meant “they couldn’t fire me”, while his CVC contract meant “they could have fired me the day after I signed it”. “So I would hardly have paid to get that contract for a start,” he added.